With its sea of striking cool silver-blue, Carnation-like foliage, this dense,
clump-forming
Carex creates a noninvasive,
slowly spreading
mound of unusual and attractive foliage.
The gentle flower spikes that float like a subtle mist above the stems in late spring / early summer are neither showy nor detract from the clean look of this plant.

Often massed near ponds or streams, it helps combat
soil erosion.
With regular watering, it can be used for a ground cover, naturalizing, as
edging,
and in rock gardens and containers.
If used directly in a water garden, it can be planted up to 2" below the water surface.

Easy to establish and a versatile,
low
ground cover, Carex flacca adapts to most growing conditions and is easily grown in average, medium to wet well-drained soil in
full sun
to
part shade.
It does best in constantly
moist,
fertile soil, but once established is more tolerant of
drying out
than many of the other Carex species.

Tolerant of light
foot traffic,
it spreads
slowly
by
rhizomes
which can be encouraged by trimming back lightly: a mowing set at 4 inches high in early spring (and perhaps once or twice more each year) keeps this plant vigorous and creates a more manicured, tidy appearance.
It competes well with shallow tree roots and spreads much more quickly with ample water and
fertilizer.
Clumps are easily divided in spring or early fall.

Interesting Fact
This plant is from the area around the Mediterranean Sea where it grows in
calcareous
grasslands, sand dunes and in estuaries in Europe and North Africa, it has naturalized in eastern North America.

This plant has long been offered in the US as Carex glauca, however the correct name is Carex flacca.
The name Carex flacca is not a name change but the confusion between these two names for the same plant has been going on a long time.
The Department of Botany of the British Museum first discusses this in their 1898 report and cites the reason why the name C. flacca takes precedence.
Carex flacca was described by German botanist and zoologist Johan Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1771 and a year later Giovanni Scopoli,
an Italian physician and naturalist, described a plant he called Carex glauca.
Once it was determined that these plants were the same species, the older name should have taken precedence but apparently Carex flacca, the older name, was at first overlooked and Carex glauca came into more common usage.

General information about Carex (Sedge):
Carex, a splendid Sedge, yields graceful arching foliage that bends and bows, creating a lush, green coverage of color like a fresh coat of paint.
Often used as a bold accent, for
borders
and mass plantings, in containers, or as a groundcover in
shade
and rock gardens, Carex can also be planted along banks of ponds, incorporated into perennial gardens, grouped together, and utilized as a ground cover along walkways, paths or on
sloping banks.

An excellent alternative to
ivy
and
Pachysandra,
Carex produces small,
cream
to brown, bottlebrush-like
flowers
in late spring that are rather insignificant to the plant's ornamental value.
Most ornamental sedges grow best in
moist
or wet soil, however we do offer
Pennsylvania Sedge
which is an exception to that rule.

As a complete lawn substitute, water feature plant, or simply a container at your front entrance, Carex will give a lush, tropical feeling to your garden.

Gardener Tips
Sedge looks its best when the foliage is cut back in late winter or early spring before new growth occurs.

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system.

In northern zones, it does best when planted out of the way of winter winds and provided with some protection such as snow or straw.

You simply cannot go wrong pairing a large garden scape of
Coreopsis
and Carex.
Even in potted plantings, the
golden
blossoms of Coreopsis are a lovely foil to any Sedge.